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As I said in the blog post of a few days ago, I have a new story underway, titled "Another Place In Time". It's a time travel story with a few twists - it involves time travel to a dystopian future, and has a female protagonist. Her name is Abby Blevins, she's twenty-five years old, and she's stuck in a rut in her current life.
I am a couple of weeks away from the point where I'll begin to post chapters. However, as a teaser, I've decided to go ahead and post the prologue now.
To avoid giving away plot developments, I will add a few codes as the story progresses. However, you can be assured that there will be no underage sexual activity, no MM erotic scenes, no incest, and no S&M. Those tenets will likely apply to any story I write.
On another note, it's been about ten years (10!) since I posted any new content. Is that a record? (I'm sure it's not)
Enjoy!
When it comes to technology, I am what is known as a late adopter. With regard to new innovations, I’m always one of the last people I know to try them out. I have an eight-year-old laptop which suits my purposes just fine, and I have no desire to trade it in for something with all of the latest bells and whistles. Same goes for my five-year-old smart phone. And don’t even get me started about TV’s.
However, I recently wandered down the rabbit hole known as artificial intelligence – specifically, the generation of images using AI. I quickly discovered that AI would be a great tool to enhance my writing experience. One of the first projects I undertook was the creation of AI-generated covers for Lightning in a Bottle and An Unwanted Alias. If you like, you can have a look at them – I’ve uploaded them to the stories.
I also got quite a bit of enjoyment from generating images of the characters in my stories – exactly as I see them in my mind - bringing them to life in yet another way. (Who knows – maybe at some point I’ll decide to share those as well.)
Which brings me to the point of this post. Recently, artificial intelligence gave a big boost to my writing in another way. In my last blog post, I mentioned that I was working on a detective-type story set in the future. I also had a partially written post-apocalyptic story that I felt was too complex, which had caused me to transfer it to the back burner.
Enter AI – or in this case, ChatGPT. On a whim, I decided to upload that second story, the complex post-apoc tale, to ChatGPT and asked it for feedback. I had to upload each chapter (there were four of them, plus a prologue) one by one. I was astonished at the quality of the feedback I received. Not only did that feedback cause my muse to kick back in, it also gave me a couple of excellent ideas for driving the story forward. I’ve now switched gears again and am working diligently on that post-apoc story. I now know exactly where I want to take that story and have a pretty good grasp on how to get there.
I’ve decided that the title of the story will be “Another Place In Time”. In an earlier blog post, I said that I would not post any chapters of a new story until that story was complete. However, I’ve re-thought that. I’ve discovered that constant feedback – whether from ChatGPT or from readers – is a crucial factor which drives my muse. Reader feedback – both positive and negative – plus the occasional collaborations on a few scenes, is what kept me motivated and focused over the two years it took me to create Lightning in a Bottle.
I anticipate this story to be quite a bit shorter than LIAB – I really can’t imagine generating an epic of that length again. However, it should be longer than An Unwanted Alias. I’m figuring something in the range of 25 to 30 chapters. Right now, I’m wrapping up Chapter 5. I figure that when I get into Chapter 7, I’ll start posting chapters to the site. I should have enough of a backlog by then. So, it shouldn’t be too much longer.
As I’m sure you all have, I’ve read quite a bit of speculation that artificial intelligence might bring about the end of civilization. But in this case, for this writer, it provided invaluable assistance.
So, after several years of inactivity, I’m writing again.
Before I get into the details, let me say that I’ve also been working on another project – a light edit of Lightning in a Bottle to fix typos and awkward phrasing. At the same time, I added a short blurb to Chapter 45 which resulted from reader feedback.
Over the years, three different readers have mentioned the same theoretical scene, citing it as an obvious occurrence, and questioned why I didn’t include it. After the third reader brought it up, I realized it was a missed opportunity. So, I went ahead and wrote it in to the story. It’s the new October 22, 1983 segment in Chapter 45. Don’t worry, it doesn’t affect the plot in the slightest. It’s just a short little blurb, a slice of life thing, that shows a fun aspect of Pat’s pre-knowledge of history (in particular, rock & roll history). While I was at it, I very briefly detailed a heretofore undescribed LiaB show, and took the opportunity to name-drop a few songs that readers have pointed out as egregious omissions from LiaB’s play lists.
Now, on to the new stuff. First of all, I’ve been working on a new story that, regrettably, I’ve had to put on the back burner for now. I’ve cranked out a prologue and four chapters. The story has time travel, post apoc, and sci-fi components. It’s about a female protagonist who gets transferred through time to a post-apocalyptic future. It’s a very ambitious undertaking, and sadly, it seems as though I’ve written myself into a corner.
As a reader, I’m a big fan of post-apocalyptic fiction, and I’ve always wanted to create a story of my own. The problem is, writing one of these post-apoc accounts – and in particular, the story I’ve crafted - seems to beg for an extensive knowledge of things like military tactics, firearms and ammunition, and I just don’t have a large knowledge base there. Unlike many authors here, I have no military experience. Continuing on with this story will require a great deal of research/education on my part, and I just don’t have the inclination for that at present. I’m similarly disinclined to attempt a major re-write. So, I’ve reluctantly shelved the story for now. It’s a shame, because I really believe this could end up being a great story. I will say that I hope to be able to go back and pick it up in the future.
At the same time that I shelved that story, I discovered that my muse was pulling me in a different direction. Almost on a whim, I found myself constructing a universe in my mind for a different story (or stories) set in the future. This was an enjoyable exercise, and it didn’t take long for me to switch gears and start working on another story.
I envision this endeavor to be a series of multiple short to medium length stories taking place nearly two hundred years in the future. There is no time travel here. Once again, it involves a female protagonist – actually two of them. They are detectives/spies, and also musicians. It’s generally lighter fare than the post-apoc stuff, and the subject matter is well within my comfort zone. Concentrating on shorter stories makes it much more likely that they’ll be completed. I will say that I’m unlikely to post anything until I reach the point where I’m 100% sure the story will get finished.
So, that’s the latest in my world. With any luck, I’ll have some new material in the near future.
Seven and a half years between blog entries? Is that some kind of a record?
Thanks to all who took the time to write. I am doing very well. In this case, "very well" is a synonym for "busy in real time", which indicates why there has been no new material from me for so long.
One question I've been asked quite often - do I intend to make Lightning in a Bottle available on Bookapy, or other commercial sites? The short answer is no.
Here's why - first of all, there's a few age-related issues in the story. Pat and Diana were seventeen during their relationship during Pat's senior year in high school. Plus, there's that scene where Pat fends off the advances of his sister's fifteen-year-old friend. These issues, by themselves, could perhaps be dealt with, but it would take a substantial rewrite.
The bigger problem is my extensive use of copyrighted song lyrics. In a couple of critical moments in the story, I interweaved song lyrics with the narrative, and I simply don't want to change that. It would impact the story in a negative way. In particular, I'm talking about the "Suddenly" and "And So It Goes" scenes.
So, bottom line, LiaB will remain a free story, available only on this site.
An Unwanted Alias - a story which does not have these issues - might be a candidate to turn up on Bookapy at some point. It's also a candidate for Finestories, in edited form - it wouldn't take too much editing to bring it within parameters.
Also, a few words about Song of Adelita. I've sat down on a couple of occasions and tried to pick up the story. It isn't coming. That story originated from a much different part of my life, so many years ago, and I'm finding I can't get myself into the state of mind required to continue the tale.
Going back to Lightning in a Bottle - I may do a minor clean-up type edit at some point. There's a few instances, especially late in the story, where I repeat earlier dialogue and narrative, and I'd like to fix that.
As always, I have a few ideas for stories bouncing around in my head. We'll see if any of them actually make it out for public consumption.
To sum things up: Yes, I'm still out here. No, I haven't made any progress on Song of Adelita. Yes, there may be something else in the works.
I've made several attempts at sitting down and picking up with SOA, and it just isn't coming. Problem is, that story originated from a time when my life was very different than it is now, and I simply can no longer relate to the issues in that story. So, I've decided to shelve it for the time being. I hate abandoning stories, but at the same time, I don't want to fabricate a quick, phony ending just to be able to label the story "complete."
Which brings me to the other item here: the same sci-fi/post-apoc story I alluded to in earlier entries. I'm finding that I am motivated to work on this story. The issue up till now was that the plot was a little too complex, and I couldn't seem to pull it all together in my mind. I'm learning that when this occurs, the best thing to do is simplify. I've hit on a couple of ideas to streamline things a bit, and I'm just about ready to let the words start to fly.
Right now, I just have chapter 1 written, plus an outline. The story doesn't have a title yet. I will tell you that it has a female protagonist - let's see how well I can pull that off. I plan to use third person omniscient POV, which makes that challenge somewhat easier.
I'll need to get several chapters composed before I even begin to consider posting, so watch here for updates.
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